You should like typical ADHD to me. I had the same issues and now am doing great with major changes to my lifestyle!
Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?
41–50 of 382 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?
#42For me personally there is a huge gap in "working for others" and "working for myself", with freelance work falling in the latter category. I do well in an office environment where I have influence in setting my own tasks, but having others rely on me finishing my things and meeting deadlines. Of course it helps that I find my work interesting.
When working on my own projects in my free time, motivation comes in bursts - I can have two evenings where I can hardly keep myself from working, and entire weeks where I cannot seem to get started or do anything constructive - my mind wanders off and I start procrastinating instead. I am fortunate enough that it does not matter financially to me what I complete in my spare time, but it is clear that waiting for motivation to hit me is not a viable strategy (for anyone).
First off, I find that starting is the hardest part. Once I sit in front of the code, opened and have written the first words, I can keep going for at least a couple of hours. So make sure you always start a task, even if it means dragging yourself in front of the computer.
Second, find a way to motivate yourself. For me, it is communicating clearly what my deadlines are to the people depending on it - this means I commit myself to finishing it publicly. At the same time, make sure you do not say "This project will finish in 3 weeks", but break it into chunks - "In two days, I'll have a prototype of the admin module, where you can test. Friday I expect to have all the functionality working, implementing your feedback along the way. Wednesday next week we'll have a meeting to discuss changes to module Y", etc.
There's no silver bullet, and I certainly do not envy this part of being a freelance developer, but it is possible. And remember, everyone struggles with this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co_DNpTMKXk
Re: Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?
#43I now have the opposite issue! If I’m not working RIGHT NOW, I start to feel anxious, because I should be working. This even stems to when I go home after work, or on the weekends, and so I never really can relax my mind. It’s really unhealthy, and I think I’m going to have to see a professional to help me fix this.
Find yourself any activity depend on your preference (and budget) that going to make you physically exhausted. It's can be any sport or you can travel to warm / cold country of your preference for swimming / skiing. When you're physically exhausted your brain won't be so busy with your work problems.
If you actually very busy person with limited time another good option is to pick some audio book or podcast that you can listen in between your usual routine. Once you start listening something daily it's will become easier for you to switch your brain between different activities more easily. It's could be anything from fiction to language course and some of it could even be useful for your career in case you need justification for yourself.
Re: Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?
#44As somebody who has suffered basically the exact same thing, one book that has immensely helped is:
https://www.amazon.com/Self-Directed-Behavior-Self-Modificat...
Essentially I found that I could tackle any task, but on the first flash of some other more exciting idea, feeling or sensation, I would drift off.
The book boils doing to finding your own Antecedents that Lead to Particular Behaviors that you want to change.
Re: Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?
#45In my late 20s I saw a dramatic improvement in my ability to ship products I wanted to build, through aggressive simplification and feature stripping. It made all the difference.
There were other smaller ingredients, such as just getting better over time thanks to experience. Mostly though, radical simplification was the biggest improvement. I found that I would begin a new personal project, feature bloat would start right from the initial design documents, then I'd drown in the effort necessary to build it all. As I burned time, working away at attempting to finish the bloated monster, I'd gradually lose the motivation necessary to get to the finish line of a launch. So I ended up building an immense amount of stuff that I never shipped. Half or more of my personal projects would end up that way.
I believe the approach of radical simplification has the added benefit of producing superior products for the end user, as well. These days I practically enjoy it when I find feature bloat that I can throw out the window. It becomes: how much bullshit can I do away with, which accelerates my core goal to get to launch; I can get closer to the finish line, while doing less work, and that simply feels great on most any serious project.
You have to be ruthless about removing unnecessary complexity (most complexity will prove to be unnecessary, and worse, harmful). So many things in life are going to be commonly working against you in trying to build something, there's a very high value in not adding to that.
Re: Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?
#46Things to try: - get more sleep - time off to recharge / re-motivate - meditation / yoga / exercise - try to stop using stimulants (includes caffeine/nicotine/sugar) or try using different stimulants (eg. arecoline) - absolutely do not smoke marijuana, it is known to make many people lazy and demotivated - control your environment (quiet, no phone, phone off, offline) - clean your environment (zero clutter) - change…
I agree with everything bug
> - absolutely do not smoke marijuana, it is known to make many people lazy and demotivated
This is largely a myth whereas I can easily find citations and scientific research to back every other advice. Smoking a lot of marijuana is bad because it messes with your pleasure cycle but overall motivation is hardly effected (citations provided upon request - please do ask or look at pubmed yourself).
Also:
> - try different times of day (eg. sleep early, wake then work early AM before sunrise)
Messing with your circadian clock is dangerous (as in cardiovascular desease dangerous) and I would not recommend anyone to do this. The other advice (like sleep more) is important.
> - meditation / yoga / exercise
This a million times, meditation and exercise are great at motivating you.
Re: Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?
#47I have felt the same way. Some things that helped me: 1. Do the “Productivity” sessions in the Headspace app. I was really skeptical about guided meditation, but have found them very useful in maintaining focus. It teaches you to be aware when your mind wanders and helps you bring focus back to the task at hand. https://www.headspace.com/ 2. Force yourself to break big tasks down into tiny chunks. When things seem ov…
> 1. Do the “Productivity” sessions in the Headspace app.
If you haven't done so already - do the "Motivation" pack too - it literally teaches you how to summon motivation which is phenomenal.
Re: Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?
#48You're not suffering from ADHD. You're using a motivational skill! It's a very valuable skill to have! Boring work can be made interesting, life changing even. This requires vigilance, as you've noticed. Motivation is ongoing, requiring you to revisit the feelings and rationale that gave you that productive burst.
Re: Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?
#49I'm familiar with this. There's no magic solution, sadly, but I'll share one thing that has helped me and may apply at least to some of your situations. I realised a while ago that my main issue was with nebulous tasks -- that is, the more concrete, defined, and _meetable_ a task was, the less trouble I had with it. So I started to break down large tasks, which never got started much less finished, into smaller ones,…
100% this. Break down the tasks into smaller and smaller chunks, use an app like Todoist to track it. So create a project for each major task, and have all the todo's inside that project. You'll feel achievement as you complete each small task, and within no time you'll find you have completed the project, AKA, one big task.
I still use paper :)
Re: Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?
#50I'm in my mid 30s and I think I'm in the middle of the pack as far as productivity/focus/procrastination go. From that perspective and from your own description of yourself, I would put you below average, and much more importantly - your performance is making you unhappy. I think this calls for a self-diagnostic. I would definitely see a therapist and maybe a doctor to make sure there aren't any subtle undiagnosed is…
I had a long period of time where I couldn't get motivated to do anything after a business partner screwed me out of millions of dollars from an acquisition. I would try and try, but I just couldn't get started on things, or I would start and never finish. I later learned that after this incident, I was suffering from "learned helplessness" [1]. This is a phenomenon where after experiencing a trauma that you were powerless to stop, the brain generalizes that powerlessness and applies it even to situations where you do have control. Essentially, you no longer believe that your efforts can yield positive outcomes, and you stop trying.
Learned helplessness is believed to be a major driver in depression and obviously is a source of issues with motivation. It's a really interesting and treatable condition. If anyone reading this believes this may be an issue for you, you should look into a therapist that is experienced with CBT, as this can be an effective treatment for learned helplessness.